ADL Alarmed Over Neo-Nazi Party Entering Slovakia’s Parliament

New York, NY, March 7, 2016 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed alarm over Slovakia’s neo-Nazi party winning eight percent of the vote to gain entrance into the country’s parliament.

Party leader Marian Kotleba and other members of the “People’s Party-Our Slovakia” have expressed admiration for the Slovak Nazi-puppet government during World War II and the Hlinka Guard, which was instrumental in deporting Slovakia’s Jews to death camps.

“An openly neo-Nazi party will now have a national platform, at the heart of Slovakia’s democracy, to spread its hate,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “All of the democratic parties which will sit with Kotleba and his fellow bigots must counter them at every turn.”

Mr. Greenblatt added, “Kotleba’s party may have some support, but it has no legitimacy.”

ADL is the world’s leading anti-hate organization. Founded in 1913 in response to an escalating climate of anti-Semitism and bigotry, its timeless mission is to protect the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all. Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of hate with the same vigor and passion. A global leader in exposing extremism, delivering anti-bias education, and fighting hate online, ADL is the first call when acts of anti-Semitism occur. ADL’s ultimate goal is a world in which no group or individual suffers from bias, discrimination or hate.